Divine Screen Teams: Liz Taylor And Monty Clift.

Liz Taylor and Montgomery Clift were hailed as one of the most beautiful onscreen couples ever. They remained firm friends throughout their lives but never took their friendship to the next level. Clift was a gay man and was very open about it at a time when many were too afraid to come forward. Rock Hudson, another of Liz’s leading men and also quite beautiful, was gay too but unlike Clift kept it secret right up until his illness, Aids, made it impossible to hide any longer. The movies Liz and Monty made together were mostly about fragile relationships.
A Place In The Sun first teamed them as mismatched lovers. She from a very wealthy family and he from a poor one.

The thing is he is distantly related to her family and because of this is offered a job in one of her father’s factories. Trouble is that while working in the factory he meets another girl, ( played by Shelly Winters ) poorer and plainer, and knocks her up just before he meets Liz.
What to do? He manages to dispose of his pregnant girl from the wrong side of the tracks one night whilst rowing on a pristine lake so that he can concentrate on Liz.
Of course he is doomed and in the end must face the penalty for murder. She, however, truly loves him and vows to love him forever. Not unlike the real Liz and Monty offscreen.
As a matter of fact it was Liz who was the first on scene after Monty’s terrible car crash and it was she who saved him by reaching her hand into his mouth and pulling out two teeth so that he wouldn’t choke.

After his accident Monty was different. One side of his face was badly scarred and he suffered from terrible depression which led him to alchoholism which further damaged his looks. Liz did not desert him and fought for him to be cast alongside her in two other films. In ‘Suddenly Last Summer,’ he was the doctor and she the one with depression. In fact in the film she is due to have a lobotomy and he is the one due to perform it. The Psychiatrist he plays believes that his patient is sane and just needs to reveal the truth which will save her sanity. The film also starred Katherine Hepburn and it’s story dealt with a mother’s cover up of her gay son’s lifestyle. In their final film together ‘Raintree County,’ Liz, is again the one suffering from bi polar whilst her husband , played by Monty, works his way up in parliament. Set during the Civil war a young teacher dumps his small town girlfriend for a very beautiful and fragile newcomer. Liz, naturally, is the one to drag his character away from all sense of duty and moral obligation.

The small town girl, Eva Marie Saint, though wins out in this one as as Liz’s character loses the plot completely and eventually kills herself.

The dramatic film fodder shared by Liz and Monty is the stuff of legend. Wonder what would have happened if the had married for real? Two beautiful hearts joined in a lovers knot. Sadly though Monty was a little too sensitive for the world of Hollywood and died way before his time. Liz married a record seven times but I don’t think she connected with any of them the way she did with Monty.

Vintage Black Hollywood Stars

On June 13, 2020 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, Now and then, old movie magic

There were just as many black stars in Hollywood as there were white. It didn’t matter how talented they were, however, as most were relegated to the roles of house servants, baggage handlers, valets, porters, criminals or all singing all dancing sidekicks. Their roles were generally one dimensional and did little to show off the talent of the actor.

When Hattie McDaniel became the first black actress to win an oscar for her supporting role in ‘Gone With The Wind’ she was not even permitted to sit amongst the other stars of the film. She and her husband had to sit at a segregated table near the back of the Coconut Grove where the oscar ceremony was held. Up to that point her career had been based on playing sassy maids and that is exactly the type of role she played in ‘Gone With The Wind’. She was, however, a scene stealer and the role of ‘Mammy’ was so much more. Not only was she the first to win an oscar but also the first black singer to make it in radio.

She even had her own show ‘Hi Hat Hattie’ as a , you guessed it, wise cracking maid. She was well respected and loved amongst the Hollywood elite and counted Clark Gable and Bette Davis amongst her closest friends. Apparently she also threw great parties in her grand seventeen room Hollywood mansion. Though criticised for conforming to stereotype roles she famously said, “I’d rather receive $700.00 a week for playing a maid than $7.00 a week for being one. ”

Another wonderful black star during this era was the beautiful Theresa Harris who starred alongside Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face. Throughout the film she is The best friend of Stanywyck’s character Lilly who is working her way up. The thing is that once Lilly get’s where she want’s to be with the expensive house, chauffer and designer gowns, her best friend becomes her maid. Even though Theresa Harris get’s to wear designer outfits too and is obviously well bred and intelligent her character does not at any time in the film share equal opportunity. Harris did, however, make her mark and did manage to break the mould. She also lobbied hard for better parts for black actors. Though her roles included blues singers, prostitutes and even zombies she was generally stereotyped. Harris appeared in many very well known films including’ Neptune’ s Daughter’ with Esther Williams, ‘The Dolly Sisters’ with Betty Grable and ‘Miracle On 34th Street with Maureen Ohara.

Then, of course, there was the incredible Lena Horne who, even though she could pass for white, was still never cast in leading roles. She remained a featured singer throughout her career except for her the role in ‘Cabin In The Sky’ which was an all black cast. She was turned down for the role of Miss Julie in ‘Show Boat’ despite the fact that she would have been perfect for it. The role called for a beautiful black singer passing for white but Lena Horne did not get it because she was black. Go figure. The role went to Ava Gardener who was definitely exotic but was definitely white. She was the first to sign a long term Hollywood contract with MGM but her performances in nearly all the films she appeared in were edited to fit in with the rules of segregation. Horne was a civil rights activist and famously refused to perform for an audience of German POWS during a tour to entertain the troups during the war. The black troops were seated behind them and Lena Horne moved through the rows to the front row of black troops to sing rather than refuse altogether. She was never, unlike many others, reduced to stereotypes and her career was full and varied as a singer and night club performer. She had started in ‘The Cotton Club’ at only sixteen and never looked back. She would go on to perform with Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Harry Balafonte, Louis Armstrong and countless other great names. She , in fact , shared the stage as an equal and went on with her own T. V. shows too.

Dorothy Dandridge was another who faired better than many. Starting out at ‘The cotton Club’ as a singer and dancer she was determined to carve a name for herself. She was the first black actress to be nominated for an academy award in a lead role. The role was that of Carmen in the film ‘Carmen Jones’. Up until that film was made Dandridge had played small parts more as temptress than maid. She had even featured as an African princess in Tarzan films. After ‘Carmen Jones’ she was celebrated as a great artist and offered a series of good roles often as co- star including the role of Tup Tim in ‘The King And I’. On the advice of ,Otto Preminger, her lover at the time, she turned them all down and waited for a starring role that suited her talents and her new found fame. Very smart lady. The next lead role was in Porgy and Bess in which she played opposite such luminaries as Sammy Davis Junior. She followed this up with ‘island In The Sun’ again with Harry Belafonte with whom she had starred in ‘Carmen Jones’. The two were dynamic on screen together and the film went on to make a tidy sum for Hollywood producers. Unfortunately Dandridge did not live a long life and died at the age of 42. They said it was drugs but later it was thought that it had been an embolism. Whatever it was she was gone too soon.

All of these great actresses shared another thing in common.
All had performed at one time or another with the wonderful ‘Bo Jangles’ who, in his life time , was the highest paid black actor ever. Bill Robinson had started in Vaudeville, performed for many years on Broadway and had achieved star billing in Hollywood notably with Shirley Temple who absolutely adored him. Bo Jangles taught Sammy Davis Junior everything he knew. He was responsible too for Dallas hiring the first African American police officer and for desegregating Miami audiences for a public event and lobbied Roosevelt for equal pay for African American soldiers. He was mentor and teacher to many white Hollywood stars as well including Anne Miller and Fred Astaire. Here then is a little of Bill Robinson’s ( Bo Jangles ) magic. Because of him Hollywood began to see beyond black and white. It would still be a long road but without those willing to make a stand things would have been very different .

Gabby Du Gaffe

For

Renee Dallow ( Hybiscus Bloom ) 27/03/2015

Judy Garland: Petite Dynamite.

On September 24, 2019September 25, 2019 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Now and then, old movie magic

So much as been written on the life of Judy Garland that there seems to be little more one can add. Her childhood, her career, her marriages, were all scrutinised by the press every minute of every waking day but how many have written of her warmth, her generosity, her vulnerability and her vitality outside of her inner circle. It seems that there were many who put her down at a time when she needed support. When she turned to uppers to keep her up and downers to help her sleep probably because she realised how fickle the general public can be. They were all there for her rise but who was there for the fall? Judy was a one in a million star. Shooting down to earth faster than any comet and it seemed no-one could stop it.

My grandmother took me to see ‘Wizard Of Oz’ when I was a child. The film was already twenty years old. I became an instant fan not only of Dorothy but of Judy too. There was such beauty behind that face and within that enormous heart of hers and that was what I identified with. The sweetness that was Dorothy was Judy. The two were intertwined in my memory forever. It was Judy who inspired my love of musicals, of theatre, of life. Since then I have researched her life, read books on her life and watched nearly all of her films. Judy was adored by both men and women for her onscreen charisma and for that golden voice that could break their hearts and have them leaping for joy in the same instant.

Who could forget Judy in , A Star Is Born or Easter Parade, or, Meet Me In Saint Louis? What about her stellar performance in, Harvey Girls, a personal favourite? In it she is petite dynamite opposite the calm sophistication of saloon owner John Hodiak. In every film Judy shone bright. When she sang she did it with her whole being. Such a huge, confident, resonant voice for one so plagued with insecurities. She was always afraid that she wouldn’t fit in because she wasn’t beautiful like Lana Turner or Hedy Lamar with whom she starred in, Ziegfeld Girls, or about being skinny enough to even be considered as a love interest for any of her leading men. As it turned out Judy was good enough on all fronts even with extra weight as in , Summer Stock. It didn’t matter. She was Judy and everyone adored her. If only she had known of the effect she had on so many throughout the whole world and how many wanted to be just like her.
Including yours truly. Me.